Instagram marketing tips | Tips for unsigned artists

As an unsigned artist, Instagram can be one of the most effective platforms to promote your music. Due to it’s focus on images, the average engagement rates for Instagram are significantly higher than both Twitter & Facebook.

But of course without any marketing training or experience, it can often be difficult to know where to start. And even if you are active on Instagram, how can you tell if you’re doing the right thing or not?

With this in mind, we’ve put together some of our top Instagram marketing tips for unsigned artists.

The most notable feature that you can access from switching to this is ‘Insights’ – detailed statistics from your Instagram profile. These statistics can give you unique insights into how well your page is performing, which can be really useful when looking at how to improve your page’s performance.

Use Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories is essentially Instagram’s version of Snapchat – you can upload ‘stories’ which will disappear after 24 hours. The great thing about this is that – instead of having to encourage people to ‘add’ you on Snapchat – you can make the most of your existing following on Instagram.

You can use Instagram Stories in exactly the same way as you would use Snapchat. For example you could post behind-the-scenes images from a video shoot, insights into your day-to-day life, general music promotion, run a competition, and so much more. We’ll be posting a blog with some ideas for your Instagram Stories soon – why not subscribe to the First Media TV Blog for email updates?

Experiment with Boomerangs and GIFs

Have you tried using ‘Boomerangs’ on Instagram? You can capture a one-second-long video which Instagram automatically loops backwards and forwards a few times – you can make some really cool videos. They’re quite similar to GIFs and, like videos, they can be another effective way to boost engagement on your Instagram posts.

Try out Instagram Live

Instagram Live can be a great way to create some engagement on Instagram. To start a live video, simply swipe left or click your profile picture in the top left hand corner of your screen – the same way you would to upload a story – and scroll to the ‘Live’ tab at the bottom. Simply click ‘Start live video’ and you’re good to go!

One of the benefits of Instagram Live is that it sends out a push notification to your followers. This is really good at attracting any loyal fans or intrigued followers to watch the video and show some support. Don’t forget to encourage your viewers to comment on your live video – you could even use this feature to host an Instagram Live Q&A…

Stay active

One of the most ineffective things that you can do is to set up an Instagram account and then not use it. For Instagram we would recommend trying to post daily or once every other day. But even if you can only post once every two weeks it’s going to have more of an impact than not using your account at all.

If you’re wanting someone more experienced to help with the set up or management of your Instagram page, or any other social media music promotion, then why not get in touch with us at First Media TV on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram?